In addition to the canyon’s
numerous rowdy miners, two of
Nevada's most
famous renegade Indians
lived in
Eldorado Canyon,
the first of which, a man named Arvote, was said to have killed five area
settlers. At about the same time a Cocopah Indian
named Queho, was
terrorizing the area and was reportedly
Nevada's
first serial killer. He was said to have murdered 23 people in the
early 1900s. The last person
Queho killed was
Maude Douglas near the Techatticup Mine in 1919. Having already become
Nevada's
Number 1 Public Enemy, the Indian
was relentlessly pursued by sheriff’s posses but was never captured. What was thought to have been his remains were finally found in a cave in
Eldorado Canyon
in 1940.

In the early 1900s Nelson’s Landing was
one of the largest ports on the Colorado
River and became even more important in the 1920s for two reasons.

The first was
prohibition, enacted on January 16, 1920. On the Arizona
side of the river in Mohave County, prohibition was strictly enforced
and moonshine sold for as much as $50.00 a gallon. However,
in Clark County on the Nevada
side, prohibition was not enforced and homemade liquor sold for as low
as $1.00 a gallon. This created a brisk trade along the river as
bootleggers ran their white lightning into Arizona.

The
second was the preliminary work required for the building of the Hoover
Dam. Dozens of surveyors operated small boats from Nelson’s
Landing, while many others were ferried across the river to complete
their work. When the dam was completed, the area became one of the
first main tourist sites as visitors were guided to the best fishing
areas and taken on tours of the dam. Before long, Nelson's Landing
prospered as a resort, where boats, bait, gasoline, food, and cabins
were provided.

The Techatticup Mine
remained active until about 1945, producing more than 2.5 million
dollars worth of gold, silver, copper, and lead, after which, it sat
abandoned for almost five decades. In no time, the town of Nelson
dwindled leaving little more than the remains of mine works and tailings
among the scorpions and rattle snakes.

Following the completion
of Davis Dam in the mid-1950s, Lake Mohave began to fill up, drowning
the old stamp-mill site, the steamboat landing and the remains of the
Eldorado
Camp.

The
Nelson District yielded more that 500 million dollars in ore in its almost
100 years of mining.

A tour of
Eldorado Canyon
begins by accessing Nelson Road (Nevada
Highway 165) from I-95 south of Boulder City. Traveling southeast, the
highway gradually climbs through about 11 miles of desert hills before
reaching the old mining community of Nelson,
Nevada. During the spring, this part of the drive will provide numerous picturesque
views of desert wildflowers. Nelson is entirely surrounded by Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) property, where you might also see big horn sheep
and wild burros roaming among the hillsides.

Today, Nelson is all but a
ghost town
with a population of just about twenty people. With no open
businesses, the town marks its past with a few weathered sheds, small shacks
with corrugated metal siding, and rusting machinery parts. Those few
residents that remain mostly live in a smattering of modern buildings and
mobile homes. On a hillside above Nelson is a small overgrown cemetery
and though it has some fairly recent graves, they can barely be seen through
the brush. Though it’s hard to imagine today, in the 1880s Nelson and
the 10-mile
Eldorado Canyon was called home to more people than the entire Las Vegas
valley.

As you leave Nelson, the road begins a twisting
drive through the canyon, providing dramatic views of rugged rock walls and
stone formations, pocked with holes and tailings from its old mining days.

Within just a
few miles you will come to the infamous Techatticup Mine. After having
sat abandoned for five decades, Tony and Bobbie Werly purchased the mine and
51 acres of surrounding property. Prior to purchasing the mine acreage, the
pair operated a river adventure outfit in nearby Boulder City.